The Glee Club Experience Blog

We are looking all very much looking forward to our upcoming collaboration with the Princeton University combined Jazz Ensembles on Sunday December 7th. We’re excited to be bringing you highlights from one of Wynton Marsalis’ masterpieces ‘Abyssinian Mass’. This is extra special for us given the long ties that Princeton shares with the renowned Trumpeter. Marsalis has graced Princeton auditoriums frequently, performing many times in McCarter Theatre and Richardson Auditorium. In January 1992, Richardson was chosen as the site for Marsalis’ recording “On The Twentieth Century” with pianist Judith Stillman; whilst in 1996 Richardson welcomed Marsalis once more to celebrate Martin Luther King Day, as he spoke of the role of music in achieving unity among cultures.

But ties are even deeper: in June 1994 we had the privilege of welcoming Wynton Marsalis as our commencement speaker, which was followed a year later by the awarding of a honorary Doctor of Fine Arts at the 1995 commencement for his achievements and his music that ‘speak directly to the heart, mind and soul’.

We hope to see you all on December 7th 2014 as we bring Marsalis’ lively music once more back to campus, on a date that itself bears significance, in that December 7th 1994 had seen the trumpeter present a lecture on jazz and American culture, once again in one of our very own campus auditoriums.

Photo credits:

Daily Princetonian, 17th January 1996

Princeton Weekly Bulletin, Dec. 5th 1994, Vol. 84, No. 11

Princeton Weekly Bulletin, Feb. 5th 1996, Vol 85, No. 15

Princeton Alumni Weekly, July 1995, with thanks to the “Princeton University Archives. Department of Rare Books and Special Collection. Princeton University Library”